Monday, 14 January 2008

My son and some of his friends in Sydney have formed a band. They describe it’s genre as ... Metal / Death Metal / Grindcore ... which all sounds a tad scary, but having spent a few hours at an Irrelevant show, when they toured Adelaide in 2007 and our son was acting manager and their merch guy ... or something like that ... I quickly realised they’re just all noise and the band is a bunch of sweeties!

I’m excited that he’s planning to write again and will get his creative juices flowing. When we lived in Fiji, he used to write reviews for music websites and mags most days. He became real good at getting demo’s from publicists, as he couldn’t buy the type of music he was passionate for, in Fiji.

I never tire of reading his work ... bias I know, but he has an earthy visual style, very similar to my own, just loads better!

Here’s the banner that the band want to advertise their MySpace ...

...too fast moving for my eyes, but I’m sure many will like it.

Here’s the pic I’m more comfortable with ...

My son has a zombie bride and groom tattooed on his feet ... and she’s similar, although not the same, as the bride.

There’s a demo song on the site ... and that’s my boy! I am concerned about his vocal cords, but my wish is that he’ll have fun and enjoy his passions!

Sunday, 13 January 2008

On Saturday we went to a travel agent to begin formulating the plans we’ve been making to have a holiday in Italy later this year. My hubby has talked about to visiting Italy, Greece and the Greek Islands for some time, and last September I suggested that my income be put in a separate bank account to pay for this adventure. This we did, and we started stage one of planning our holiday. We’ve done loads of online research and also talked to people who’ve been to Italy, and we felt it was time to start getting it together.

We went to the local flight centre, and the assistant manager Jo (Jody) started to put our plans together. She agreed that three weeks made our ideas doable, but obviously if we could sneak an extra day or three, it would be even more fun. My hubby has told his companies directors he’ll be taking time off for this holiday, and they’re okay about it, but he’s unsure of how long he should be away for … annoying, but understandable.

This is our current plans … nothing set in concrete, but a definite start!

We fly from Adelaide to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) by Malaysia Airlines on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday or Sunday … after 7 September 2008, so we can get special air fares for September. We’ll probably have a one night stopover then fly to Rome (Italy). It will take 7 hours 30 minutes to get to Kuala Lumpur and 12 hours 10 minutes to get to Rome … that’s a long time!

Maybe a night or two in Rome, then fly to Venice for a couple of nights and then to Tuscany for the final 5 or so days.

We may turn this trip around and start in Venice (or Rome then Venice), then Tuscany, then the cruise … not sure … but we have a plan … sort of …

Then on the way back to Adelaide we'll spend a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur. Then home!

We chose the month of September for this trip, as it will be autumn in Italy and the weather will still be warm.

... Still have to make plans for our beautiful 10 year old Milo. We have two choices ... leave her at home and have her visted at least once daily from a pet and house care agent, or have her holiday in the local kennels. I think I'll ask her vet for advice on that one!

Wednesday, 9 January 2008

We flew to Sydney on 22 December and stayed at the Four Points Sheraton on Darling Harbour. That night our son joined us and we had a lovely time together ... which included a great meal in one of the many fabulous restaurants around the harbour.

The 23rd is our daughters birthday, so we took her for a day out to Taronga zoo. It was great to be able to go out as four adults and have so much fun! Our daughter's flatmate joined us, and we had a great day. That night we met up at the Star City Casino for a fabulous meal. Our son brought his girlfriend and my two nephews (my brother's sons) joined us. It was great seeing them, as all the next generation on my side of the family (mine and my brother's children) currently live in Sydney. We had a huge night.

On the 24th we chilled ... enjoying fine dining around the harbour and rests in our hotel room.

Christmas day ... well it arrived and Sydney was dull and cool. We wandered around the harbour for a while and found ourselves sitting in a cool breeze by the water with takeaway cups of coffee and tea. It was a bit like ... 'is this really Christmas?' ... but more was to come.

Next we walked to a train station ... and got lost. When we found a station, we were told to take the train on the yellow line ... which we did. We were soooooooooooooo proud, as we could easily see the stations we had to pass through to get to Westmead Children's Hospital, where our daughter is a nurse. We watched them pass ... until we realised that the last two weren't on the map ... damn! Then we realised this wasn't the right train and had taken a turn to the right, instead of the left. At the next station we got off, called a taxi and paid $30 to get to the hospital. It was great to see our daughter at work and spent time meeting other staff and being shown around the hospital. I loved the Japanese garden that children and family can sit in, as it has water moving gently around ... very peaceful.

When our daughter finished work, she drove us to our son's place and they both joined us in our hotel room for presents. Then it was to the hotel bar and then to a wonderful Christmas night meal ... it was fabulous.

On Boxing Day our son had a party at his flat, so we spent a few hours there, but decided to leave and let the 'real' partying begin. We chilled back at our hotel ... and enjoyed another night of fine dining at a restaurant on the harbour.

Our final day ... damn ... it always goes too fast, but we'd had a fantastic time. Our daughter picked us up and drove us to where our son works, so we could see him and his friends in action. Spent some time with him and then it was to the airport!

We arrived back to a heat wave in South Aussie ... phew it was hot with day after day over 40!